Middlemarch: Critical Approaches to the Novel

by Barbara Hardy (Editor)

This Anglo-American collection of essays on Middlemarch comprises a many-faceted study of a great and much-discussed novel. Written by scholars on both sides of the Atlantic who are linked by a close and concentrated interest in the novel, this group of complementary and interrelated studies is representative of its time, both in its range and in the way it looks back and ahead in methods and conclusions. It mixes formal analysis and doubts about formal analysis; studies of background and studies of foreground; and proffers examples of linguistic criticism of a relaxed and eclectic kind. Readers already familiar with Middlemarch will get much from the book, but it will be useful to both students and scholars of the novel form. Because Middlemarch is a novel of such range and profundity, a treasure-house of detail and a remarkable whole, a fine and subtle work of art and a creation of character and communities, it raises issues which touch off responses to most novels.

192 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2014

About the author

Barbara Hardy, FRSL, FBA (née Nathan; 27 June 1924 – 12 February 2016) was a British literary scholar, author, and poet. As an academic, she specialised in the literature of the 19th Century. From 1965 to 1970, she was Professor of English at Royal Holloway College, University of London. Then, from 1970 to 1989, she was Professor of English Literature at Birkbeck College, University of London.

Hardy was born on 27 June 1924 in Swansea, Wales. She was educated at Swansea High School for Girls, a grammar school. In February 1941, she experienced the Swansea Blitz. She studied at University College London, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree in 1947 and a Master of Arts (MA) degree in 1949.

In 1962, Hardy was awarded the Rose Mary Crawshay Prize by the British Academy for her monograph The Novels of George Elliot. In 1997, she was awarded the Sagittarius Prize by the Society of Authors for her novel London Lovers. She was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature (FRSL) in 1997, and a Senior Fellow of the British Academy (FBA) in 2006.

(from Wikipedia)

Reviews

[Julia Rivière · Rating 3 out of 5]

I only read 5 out of the 8 articles, and 2 of them (Schorer and Oldfield) were incredibly helpful to understand the global patterns of charatcterization, unification and symbolization in the novel. I found the other ones not as much clear (Hulme) or relevant (Harvey and Beaty).

[Edna · Rating 2 out of 5]

Just a big disappointment for me..Glad I got from library and did not buy...I skimmed the whole book and only took away my 1 or 2 new thoughts...Turgid writing.